Chapter 53
“There’s no other way, so let’s try it. If the operating gate works, we might be able to escape through it. But setting fire to your cell is dangerous. If the guard comes late, you could suffocate locked inside. Hand me the lantern.”
“What about you, Rihardt?”
“I can hold my breath for about five minutes. Compared to Veronica, I’m less likely to inhale the smoke, so I’ll do it. There’s straw in my cell too, so just pass me the oil-filled lantern and the wool blanket.”
“Alright. Here, take it.”
Rihardt took the lantern through the bars. As the heavy weight of the lantern left my hands, my heart began to beat anxiously.
“From now on, cover your nose and mouth.”
Whoosh! As he poured the lantern oil over the straw and blanket, flames burst forth in an instant. Starting from the bed, the fire swallowed up his cell.
Rihardt covered his nose and mouth to avoid inhaling smoke, but he couldn’t escape the scorching heat, and sweat poured down his face.
“Cough, cough—what’s with all this smoke…! Prisoners, out! Get up to the first floor!”
The guard who opened the iron door tried to enter the cell block, but gave up and waved his hands. In the smoke-filled corridor, Rihardt calmly guided me along.
While checking each cell and evacuating the prisoners, one prisoner searched around for something to put out the fire. I tore my gaze away from the panicked guard and climbed the stairs.
“What’s going on? What happened?”
I ran into another guard, but he too understood the situation when he saw the thick smoke billowing up from the basement stairs.
As the guards rushed downstairs, I went the opposite way and exited the building, spotting the tower. Rihardt and I hid in the shadows and moved along the outer wall.
Since it was night, there were no sentries except for the patrolling wardens, so we managed not to run into anyone.
But luck never lasts forever. A guard stationed in front of the operating gate spotted us.
“Who goes there! How did you get out here?”
The guard gripped his baton. Just as the startled Rihardt moved to knock the guard out, I shouted:
“Fire! There’s a fire! This isn’t the time for this—you need to go put it out!”
“What? But I have to guard this place…”
“Why guard a closed gate? Go, now!”
The hesitant guard glanced at the firmly shut gate, then dashed toward the underground prison. He must’ve thought it didn’t matter if he left us here since we couldn’t open the gate anyway.
But I had stolen the key. I ran toward the tower next to the operating gate.
“Over here!”
Fortunately, no one was guarding the wooden door of the tower. We didn’t know what awaited inside. Rihardt and I exchanged one last resolute look.
When we opened the door, a small dark space unfolded before us. Feeling along the wall, I lit a torch, and the sight overwhelmed me—huge gears and massive components filled the view beside the stairs leading up to the watchtower.
At the center stood a large wheel-shaped lever, which seemed to operate the gate when turned.
“Rihardt, can you turn this?”
“I’ll try.”
Rihardt yanked the lever with all his strength. But the wheel didn’t budge an inch.
Was it because the key wasn’t inserted yet?
Then there was no choice but to try the key I’d brought. I pushed it into the hole in the center of the mechanism. It slid in easily, almost too easily.
But when I tried to turn it, it just spun uselessly inside. Denying the sinking feeling in my hands, I asked Rihardt:
“Does the lever feel like it’s moving?”
“…”
“Step aside! Let me try.”
I went up to the lever and gripped it hard. It was a massive device originally meant to be operated by two guards, so it must’ve been a matter of lacking strength.
With both of us clinging to the wheel, it shifted slightly as if it would turn, then stopped with a clunk. Even when I hung my full weight on it, the lever wouldn’t move.
I had to admit it—the lock was still engaged.
“It’s no good. The key doesn’t fit. This must not be the right one.”
“I’m really disappointed. After all that trouble, the key we found isn’t the one to open the gate.”
There was nothing else to do but accept failure.
I couldn’t hide my frustration as I pulled out the key. Rihardt also released the lever, his face clouded.
If this isn’t the key, then how can we open the gate and escape? What even was this key for?
I needed to return it before Kyle noticed it was missing, but I couldn’t muster the will.
Rihardt urged me, seeing me hesitate.
“We should go back before the guards catch on.”
By the time Rihardt and I emerged from the tower, the fire that had consumed his cell had already been put out. As we trudged back into the prison, my mind was full of thoughts.
“Should I just give up on escaping altogether? The key doesn’t fit, so what can I do? Honestly, I think I’ve tried enough… Kyle said he’d let me out, anyway.”
I had dreamed of a future with Rihardt, but when the hope of opening the gate was crushed, weakness crept in. If I used Kyle’s power, I could leave easily—was I just making futile efforts?
As we descended the stairs, I saw the prison supervisor among the guards gathered with buckets of water. He was inspecting the soot-stained walls when he spotted us and approached.
“Good thing you’re unharmed. If you hadn’t evacuated in time, I can’t imagine how the warden would’ve reacted… Anyway, the underground prison will be unusable for a while due to the fire. We’ll have to move the inmates. Pack only what’s essential and come out.”
“Yes.”
I answered weakly and entered my relatively unscathed cell, unlike Rihardt’s charred one.
While packing my belongings into a basket, Rihardt stepped inside through the open iron door. As his forehead leaned against my shoulder, I let out a small sigh.
The warmth of his hand over mine, the heat of his body, and his gentle voice soothed my disappointed heart.
I naturally assumed Rihardt had come to comfort me. After all, my expression had been gloomy since we left the tower.
“Veronica…”
But the words Rihardt spoke were far from what I expected.
“I hate that the prison warden dares to covet you.”
The tremor in my shoulders must’ve reached him, because he paused.
“I also hate that you put the warden and me on a scale and use whichever one you need.”
This time it was my conscience that flinched.
“Watching you act as if you like Kaysenis is unbearably painful.”
I had always assumed Rihardt didn’t see through me. I’d never spoken directly about it, and he had a tendency to be so forgiving it seemed almost foolish.
So I had fallen into the illusion that he hadn’t noticed anything and was simply being used by me.
In reality, Rihardt had known what I was doing, how, and why—yet still had gone along with me.
Even while feeling so wretched and tormented he wanted to bind me to himself alone.
The only reason he’d suppressed the boiling emotions and impulses he’d never felt before and done as I asked was one thing:
Because he wanted the woman he loved to survive.
Rihardt murmured in a sunken, mournful voice:
“But if that’s what it takes for you to live—if the warden can get you out instead of me—then leave me and survive.”
Contrary to his words, he gripped my hand even more desperately.
I couldn’t bring myself to respond. Was there anyone else who treasured me like this?
Not someone like Kyle Kaysenis, who would destroy and drag me down into the mud just to keep me in his grasp—but someone who truly cared for me, putting my well-being above himself.
I felt too cautious to turn back, unable to face Rihardt’s expression as he rested his forehead on my shoulder.
When I first entered Fortress Prison, I’d planned to use Rihardt and then discard him, but these days, I wasn’t sure of my own heart.
Yet now, in this moment, the scales of my heart tipped sharply to one side.
